


you were a fistfight

by laikaspeaks



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Abyss!Edelgard, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Church!Byleth, F/F, Female My Unit | Byleth
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-29
Updated: 2020-07-29
Packaged: 2021-03-06 01:14:47
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 542
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25594864
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/laikaspeaks/pseuds/laikaspeaks
Summary: Presumed dead, former princess Edelgard survives best she can in the unforgiving no-man's-land of Abyss.
Relationships: Edelgard von Hresvelg/My Unit | Byleth
Comments: 3
Kudos: 38





	you were a fistfight

Edelgard blew a pale strand of hair out of her eyes, making a mental note to cut it again. It was just starting to brush the underside of her chin. It didn’t do to give her enemies an easy grip, since she didn’t have the luxury of range to work in her favor. Even if it did make Constance complain for ages - hypocritically, she might add - Edelgard wasn’t going to grow it out longer than chin length anytime soon. Of course, she had more important concerns at the moment. She stepped out of the shadows and into the path of the bandits, blocking them from the tunnels that led deeper into Abyss.

“Evening, gentlemen. I see you haven’t held to our agreement.” She could see the cogs turning behind their eyes. For one she was a woman - armed with an axe, perhaps, but her scrap-leather armor was held together mostly by fervent prayer and not much by rivets.

They were relative newcomers to Abyss. All had hollows in their cheeks and filthy faces - under any other circumstances the sort that she would allow to pass unchallenged, even with the too-expensive armor and weapons strapped to their lean frames. Edelgard suspected they grew cocky once they acquired better gear from a lucky strike on a caravan.

After a long moment of bickering between the bandits a tall, muscular man with a shaved head stepped forward, his hand settling on the hilt of his sword. He looked like he might even know how to use it. “I don’t know what you think you’re doing, little lady, but you can fuck off. We don’t answer to the likes of you.”

His words were bold, but his dark eyes scanned the side-tunnels, looking for hints of reinforcement. He was the leader for a reason, and it wasn’t because of his musculature alone.

“Perhaps you don’t, but you answer to Abyss… and we don’t like your kind here.”

She hefted her axe pointedly as her eyes settled on the bound woman thrown over one of their shoulders. Technically speaking there were no laws in Abyss except for what the people who lived there made for themselves. Outcasts and bandits mingled and the former usually tolerated the latter, if only out of necessity. There were however a few things that could draw the ire of the otherwise reclusive populace.

“Release the woman and leave peacefully, or meet our judgement.”

The greatest of these was that there were no captives of any description in Abyss. There were no chains, no collars, no lash… no oath that bound them as vassal to a lord. Each and every man, woman and child in Abyss was free, for what little that was worth. This place was both Edelgard’s prison and her sanctuary, and even if it was an lawless place she was not a lawless woman. She would defend it as fiercely as she would defend her homeland, if she ever had the privilege to return.

The man drew his sword with a smirk, and the men behind him started snickering among themselves. "Let me show you what I think of your judgement, lady."

Edelgard sighed. She warned them. They had no one but themselves to blame for what would happen next.

**Author's Note:**

> This is mostly just going to be a drabble series sketching out ideas of the setting, since I don't really have the time to do a full fic. Abyss and the Ashen Wolves are undergoing a bit of a redesign to better suit the tone of the rest of the series, so if something doesn't quite match canon lore that would be why.


End file.
